half-and-half twill

I have plagued Laura with this several times before, but now I have more ppl to plague...

In Sweden, a half-and-half twill (2/2, 3/3, 4/4 but NOT 3/3/1/1) is called a Batavia. Batavia has (obviously) to have an even number of shafts. If I say "a 16 shaft Batavia" to a Swe weaver, s/he would know I meant an 8/8 twill.

Can Batavia be used for this kind of simple structure in (pick your language)?

At least I have not come across the term. We would call that "ligesidet" kipper (for English speakers: litt. "equal-sided" twill). I have only met the term "balanced" in English but look forward to others' replies.

'Even' twills have equal spans of floats in warp and weft, making both sides of the cloth identical. But not specifically half and half as in batavia, although I assume that definition would include half and half.

She also says that unless otherwise specified, 'twill' refers to a continuous twill line which can also be named "plain, regular, simple, biased, or diagonal".

Just checked my European books - only the Swedish ones have reference to Batavia. The JoSmits International Weaving Dictionary has no entry for the word, and the German drafting sections refer only to balanced or even twills.

is mentioned / defined in Forensic examination of Fibres - as even-sided twill where warp and weft are balance on the face of the fabric as distinguished to warp or weft faced twills. But no mention as to why it is called Batavia. It is also mentioned in the article "A Suit of Clothes" in Harper's New Monthly Magazine vol. 80 April 1890 but again no mention as to why it is called Batavia weave. Hmmmmm. . .

Kerstin, this is interesting, thank you! Is "batavia" used only for a twill woven with such a tie-up? I use this kind of tie-up for other structures, particularly when threading sequence is parallel. I refer to these tie-ups as "half/half" and find them quite nice for use on table looms.

When the tie-up is half/half, it is also lifting opposites.

To me, a balanced tie-up is one that lifts half of the total number of shafts. For twills I often prefer an unbalanced tie-up because the cloth shows more weft on one face and more warp on the other face.

Is batavia used to describe something like "corkscrew"- that is another strange name.

Bonnie - I'm not sure... If someone told me s/he had a jacket in a (say) 8shaft batavia, I would assume a twill. However, I could refer to a batavia tie-up, regardless of structure.

But: either I don't understand "on opposites" or - no, it isn't an "opposite" tie-up (left). Of course it is possible to shuffle around things to get the same 4/4 twill, but all the same I wouldn't call the right-hand tie-up a batavia.

No - for me a Batavia is *only* consecutive half up/consecutive half down. Thus: 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, 5/5.... (and I don't think they *do* weave on opposites - not my understanding of opposites, anyway). Therefore, in my previous post, *only* the left-hand tie-up is a Batavia tie-up. (The resulting structure from the right-hand draft is another matter - but if I got that structure to analyze, my first result would be the left-hand draft... I would shuffle it around only if I *had* to - if I only had dräll pulleys for my loom, for instance.)

Kerstin, my note was not clear enough, sorry. I use a half/half tie-up sometimes when my loom is threaded "on opposites" or in an "extended parallel" threading. For example, warp rep may be woven this way.

Kerstin, my note was not clear enough, sorry. I use a half/half tie-up sometimes when my loom is threaded "on opposites" or in an "extended parallel" threading. For example, warp rep may be woven this way.